Freight container



Aug. 25, 1942.

B. F. FITCH ETAL 223,726 FREIGHT CONTAINER original Filed dot. 15, 1939 In n INVENTORS: Mx? 72 mJy/05H5( BY /I\I QM, gina/WLM Patented Aug. 25, 1942 FREIGHT CONTAINER Benjaminv F. Fitch, Greenwich, Conn., and Ragnarl A. Norbom, Clifton, N. J., assignors, by rnesner assignments, to National Fitch Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Dela- Ware' Original-application OctobcrlS, 1939, Serial No. 299,327. Divided-and this application March 12, 1940, SerialfNo; 323,558

z-elaims. (c1.- isc-4c) This appli-cation isa division of our copending application, Serial No. 299,327 for a Freight -container.

Systems of transferring freight embodying demountable containers which; may be liftedv or transferred horizontally with their loads from'a highway truck to a railway car, and at the end of the rail haul placed on motor trucks, for delivery to-destination', hav'ebeen found very: sate isfactory iii-reducing the time and cost of transportation.

It is desirable that containers or bodies carrying package freight be comparatively large, so that less proportion'of space is wastedin packing a container, and greater speed obtainedfin transferring the load from one vehicle to another. With such large bodies andheav-y loads-a. troublesome factor isintroduced by the doors, which should be Wide and high toenable eicient loading and at the same time must bepreventedrfrom distortion by the impact of the contained loads against them.

Bodies of the desired length can be-v mounted on a truck only lengthwise thereof, and as end doors arek necessary for highway trucking,` since the truck must frequently be loaded or unloaded at the rear, it results that end doors must be present when the `containers are mounted on a railway car, and such doors are especially susceptible to impact of the load dueto the bufng and tugging stresses on the train.

The primary object of our invention is toprovide a demountable body having a large dooropening associated with doors which are effec'- tively braced against interior impact, and-at,- the same time are not unduly heavy. A pairof doors, each composed of a plurality of panels hinged together, is preferable in` enabling the wide doorway desired and `ena-bling opening' of the doors without undue lateralprojection of the doors themselves.

Another object of ourinventionis` to so construct the panelled doors-that each panel: makes a .comparatively tight connectionwith the adjalcent panel, or withthe edge of. the body, so as to prevent access of snowy or-waterwhen. the doors are closed.

Still another feature is to provide suchinner surface of the doors thatthey shall. be` flush with the inner surface of the body'inthesides of the doors, and the panels flush witheachother, thus making a smoothinterior.

The above and other features of our` invention will be more apparent from the following description of fa preferred embodiment there, ili,

lustrated in the drawing.`

In the drawing, Eig; lis an end elevation of a freight container having our door construction; Fig. 2 is .a horizontal section in the plane indi- Gated by line 2-2 in Fig. 1, but on a larger scale thanV that ligure; Fig. B-is a verticalsection on the pla-ne indicated by the line 3--3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 indicates, in endjview, a .container rectangular in plan` having a floor frame I0, sides Il, a roof |-2r of any suitable construction, and ends comprising narrowupright portionsY l5 connested` to the sides, and ashallow` top portion l5, thus providing a doorway only slightly smaller than* the internal cross-section of thecontainer. For handling by means of cranes or surface in terchange the body may be provided with eave hooks I1 and with skid rails i8 at the bottom, which in this instance are shownas extending transverselylof the container.

As shown' in Fig. 2, thenarrow uprightxed .panels I5 of the enlds are sheet metal plates reinforced at theirl inner edges by Z-bars 20; The plate I5 is shownas flanged around the corner onto the intermediateY webs of the, Z-bar,` as shown at i9. The Zbar and-plate are effectively welded together and the` plate andthe pair of Z-bars welded Ybelow to the floor frame andabove to the transverse member libv The Z-bar 2li carriesl the hinges for the door, as about to be dedescribed.

We have shownat the endet thervcontainer two doors each composed of4 two panels hinged together, indicated. respectively at 30, 32., 5l)r and 52. That is to say, the panels 3d and: 32v are hingedfto the-Z--bar'supports Ziiof the container, and the panels 5i! and 52 are hinged-,respectively to the panels 30 #and 32.

Welded, or otherwise secured to they Z-.bars 20, are-sets of vertically aligned hinge eyes 4S, Occupyin'gthese eyes are pintles Qi, and embracing the pintles are intermediate hinge. eyes 42, welded or otherw-isesecured to the adjacent `door panels 3Ql and 32. Thehinge pintle Ina-y be carried by either the eXtreme eyes. 49 or the intermediate eyes 42. Y

Each door panel is. made of upright edge rails (preferably rolled structure shapes) cross mem--v bers at the topA and bottom, and a plate along their inner surfaces. We have shown, particuularly Fig. 2, the doors 39', and 32 ashaving vertical railroad rails. 3.5 at the outer edge of the panels, land vertical angle bars 35 at the inner edges, and plates. 3.1 along the inner face flanged at their edges abutthe rails and angle bars and welded to them. At the top the panel has a plate 38 which is a vertical portion welded to the front. of the T-rail and angle bar, and a horizontalv portion extending over the tops of the rail and angle bar and weldedV to them, as shown in Fig. 3; At the bottom of the panel is a transverse angle ba-r 39.

The intermediate panels 553 and 52 are preferably inade of two vertical railroad rails 55. and 56, arr inner plateV 5lV anged across the inner faces of the rails and welded to them, .and top and `bottom members similar to those of the panels 38 and 32.

The panel 50 is hinged to the panel 39 and the panel 52 to the panel 32, by hinges with fixed' pintles; that is to say, we provide an ear 58 which may be secured to one of the panels and be snugly embraced by ears 59 secured to the other panel :and :pintles carried by these ears. In other words, the panel 50 is hinged to the panel 30 and the |panel 52 is hinged to the panel 32, each in la manner to allow swinging, but no independent vertical movement.

In our parent application referred to, we lock the closed doors by raising them in their own planes to cause them to engage suitable keepers at the top and bottom. When this feature is employed, we provide for the up-and-down movement by hinging the panels 30 and 32 to the container in a manner to allow both swinging and vertical movement. This is readily eiected by making the ear 42 of the panel 32 materially shorter than the space between the two ears 40 on the container frame, and making the hinged pintle 4| loose in respect to either the ear 42 or the two ears 49.

To raise the closed doors in their own plane, our parent application provides two camming mechanisms carried by the oor frame and operating upwardly against the bottoms of the doors. That is to say, one of the raising mechanisms operates the panels 3D and 50 as a unit, and the other, the panels 32 and 52 as a unit.

The raising mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, where we have shown two vertical movable plungers 60, each mounted in a bracket 6| secured to the floor beam l0. This bracket has a helical slot 62 through which projects a lever 63 secured to the plunger. When the lever is at the bottom of the slot the doors are in their normal or lowered position ready for opening. When, however, the lever is swung to turn the plunger 180, to bring the lever into position shown in Fig. 1, this causes the plunger to shove upwardly against the lower ends of the two panels of the door with which it is associated, thus raising that door as a unit.

The oor frame illustrated in Fig. 3 comprises at the end of the container a transverse channel beam 1|) with its web vertical, and a plate welded to the channel beam and having a vertical portion 1|, and a horizontal portion '|2. The plate 1| extends above the top horizontal flange of the channel 'I0 and this provides a stop for the planking of the floor.

When the doors are closed, the inner plates 3`| and 51 thereof, and the horizontal flange of the angle beam 39 forming the bottom of the doors abut the outer face of the plate At such time, the door stands directly beneath the open space in a downwardly facing channel beam 80 which is welded to the inner face of the crossmember |6 of the container. The inner leg 8| of this channel beam extends downwardly lower than the leg 82. Accordingly, when the door swings into closed position, it passes beneath the leg 82 and comes into abutting engagement with the leg 8|. Now if the doors are raised in their own plane, the engagement with the plate 'H and the channel leg 8| is maintained, and also the door passes behind the channel leg 82 into the position shown in Fig. 3, and is thereby locked at the top.

To lock the doors at the bottom when they are raised, suitable keepers may be provided on the ioor frame. As shown, these keepers comprise a long horizontal angle bar welded to the floor plate 1|, and stirrups 9| welded to both the horizontal and vertical flanges of the angle bar 90. Welded to the inner faces of the downward ilange of the door bottom 39 are upwardly facing hook members 95. The free ends 96 of these members stand, when the doors are closed, beneath the space back of the stirrups 9| and in front of the vertical ilanges of the angle bar 90. However, when the closed doors are raised, the hook portions 96 come behind the keepers 9|, as shown in Fig. 3, thus locking the door at the bottom.

To make a tight connection between the various door panels when closed, we provide one of the rails at the edge of the panels 50 and 52, with a projecting strip |00 welded to the head of one of these rails and standing close to the head of the other when the doors are closed, and thus shielding the passageway between the meeting edges of the two panelled doors. Likewise, we may provide each of the outermost panels 30 and 32 with projecting strips IUI, welded to the back of the angle bars 36, and thus forming a closure behind the hinges 58. The outer ilanges of the Z-bars 2,0 project behind the rails 35 of the edgemost panels 30 and 32 to make a tight connection therewith, the bottom plate 39 of the door being notched to receive the Z-bar frame, as shown in Fig. 2.

When the doors are closed, a weather-tight connection is made by the construction described clear across the various panels of the door, and when the doors are raised, the connection is weather-tight at the top and bottom. It will be seen from Fig. 2 that the plates 31 and 51 along the inner faces of the doors, are flush with the vertical container plates |5- at the end of the body. Accordingly, a smooth, uninterrupted, substantially continuous wall is provided clear across the end of the body when the doors are closed.

The doors provided by this invention are very strong and still?. They are not liable to be distorted or bowed outwardly, by impact of the load carried, even though such load shifts violently' against the door during transportation. The doors are adapted to be readily raised into lock-f ing position, or lowered so as to be readily. swung, if that feature is desired.

We claim:

1. The combination of a doorway, a door within the doorway composed of panels, the edgemost panels being hinged to the doorway and the intermediate panels hinged to the panels rst mentioned, one of the panels having at its edge an upright rail with an enlarged head and the adjacent panel having at its edge an upright rail carrying a projecting strip extending behind the hinge connecting it with the other panel and behind said head when the door is closed.

2. A panelled door comprising one panel adapted to be hinged to a support, and a second panel hinged to the first mentioned panel, each panel being made of two vertical edge rails and a sheet extending across the inner faces of such rails, the adjacent rails of the two panels which are hinged together being a railroad rail on,one panel and an angle bar on the other, and a projecting strip carried by the angle bar and ada ted to project behind the head of the railroad rafil.

BENJAMIN F. FITCH. RAGNAR A. NORBOM. 

